Antimicrobial treatment of cotton fabric with bidens pilosa leaf extracts.

Abstract

The study covers leaves of bidens pilosa with. the bioactive compounds extracted using solvents of ethanol, water and acetone which were later applied to cloth for antimicrobial activity test. Soxhlet extraction method was used. The number of phytochemicals whose test was positive were higher for organic extracts than for aqueous extracts. Flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, phenols, terpenoids tested positive for ethanol and acetone extracts while flavonoids and glycosides tested positive in water extract. The yield of the extract was for water and 5.7%; for ethanol. Only extracts of water and ethanol were applied on cloth for study of the antimicrobial property. The agar diffusion method gave 17mm diarneter as zone of inhibition- for water extract against staphylococcus aureus. with organic extracts exhibiting no antimicrobial activity while ciprofloxacin used as the standard drug had 39mm inhibition zone. The minimum inhibitory. concentration test against S. aureus carried out using the broth dilution method showed 20mg/mI for ethanol and acetone and 10mg/ml for water extract. The extracts were applied to the bleached cotton fabric by dipping in liquor ratio 20 and drying at 700c. Curing was done at 150%. Antimicrobial tests were carried out for treated cotton cloth against staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) using the disc diffusion method for cloth. The cloth exhibited higher antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and very little activity against E. coli. The antimicrobial activity; against S. aureus, of water extract was high' when the cloth of more concentration (27%) was used. The zone of inhibition was 9.5mm. The ethanol extract on cloth showed negligible effect. Extracts from bidens pilosa leaves when incorporated in cotton cloth show promising potential against S. aureus, specifically aqueous extracts.